N.J. Assembly committee to discuss raw milk ban

Amanda Brown/The Star-LedgerAssemblyman Nelson Albano (D-1st Dist.), at a 2006 Agriculture and Natural Resources meeting in Trenton in this photo, has scheduled a hearing on the law banning raw milk in New Jersey.

TRENTON -- It's natural and healthy to some, but laced with E. coli and salmonella to others. The product: raw milk.

Raw milk and the state laws surrounding it will be discussed at an Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee hearing Monday. The sale of raw milk is banned in New Jersey, which bothers people who want the natural product, but pleases some health officials who say it has unwanted bacteria.

Assemblyman Nelson Albano (D-1st Dist.), who chairs the committee, said he scheduled the hearing after meeting with a group of dairy farmers roughly two months ago who wanted the ban overturned.